Der spiegel

Even before the First World War, Lyon Feuchtwanger published a newspaper in Munich called Der Spiegel, which in November 1908 merged with the Schaubune newspaper Siegfried Jacobson.

The first edition after World War II was published on November 4, 1947 , on Saturday, in Hanover , as the successor to the newspaper Diese Woche. The magazine followed the pattern of American and British news publications, most notably Time magazine. For some time, young German editors under the leadership of Rudolf Augstein tried to do their work on the principles of critical and serious journalism , which led to the fact that the accusations even sounded against the allies (opponents of Germany in the First and Second World War ). The government in London and three other occupying powers protested against this form of reporting and got rid of the magazine .

Rudolph Augstein obtained a publishing license and renamed the magazine Der Der Spiegel. From the first issue in January 1947, he was the publisher and chief editor . The editorial office was located in Hanover, Antzigerhochhaus (one of the first high-rise buildings in Germany).

Der Spiegel had a relatively large influence at the beginning and in the middle of its existence. It is with Der Spiegel that the loudest scandal surrounding the infringement of freedom of speech in post-war Germany is connected, the so-called “Spiegel Scandal” ( German Spiegel-Affäre ). The scandal that erupted in 1962 was caused by a number of very critical articles by Der Spiegel magazine on the issue of corruption in the Department of Defense. In particular, journalists shed light on the personal interest of Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauss in the distribution of construction contracts. According to journalists, the minister received large bribes, kickbacks, from construction companies, in particular, FibAG. In addition, Der Spiegel regularly criticized the Minister of Defense’s plans to turn Germany into a nuclear power in a very harsh manner. In the context of the growing cold war , according to the editorial staff, arming the Bundeswehr with nuclear weapons meant turning the FRG into a target for Soviet nuclear missiles, which means that in the event of a possible war, the complete destruction of West Germany. The culmination of the conflict was an article published in October 1962 entitled “Conditionally defensive” (Bedingt abwehrbereit), dedicated to the results of NATO exercises Fallex 62 . The magazine disseminated information that, according to the results of these exercises, neither the Bundeswehr nor the NATO group located in Germany are able to hold West Germany for more than two weeks in the event of a possible war. Strauss reacted immediately: the editorial office was charged with disclosing state secrets, the editorial office was seized by the special forces of the Ministry of Defense, the archive was confiscated, and leading employees, including Rudolf Augstein, were arrested. A number of defense ministers were also arrested, allegedly passing classified materials to reporters. However, after some time the conflict was settled: Minister Strauss resigned and began to lead the Bavarian Christian Democratic Union ( CSU ), and the editorial staff were acquitted and released.

As a result of these events, the influence of the magazine has increased even more.

In the Christian Schulz-Gerstein era, the magazine’s cultural department culminated.

After the rival Focus appeared , tangible changes have occurred; however, journalistic influence remained the same. Focus initially positioned itself as an alternative to Der Spiegel.

Since the mid-1990s, under the leadership of chief editor Stefan August and under the pressure of competition, Der Spiegel has turned to neoliberal views. At the same time, the magazine is reproached for becoming more and more a "tabloid" publication, although the articles remain all the same voluminous and fascinating.

A survey of 1,536 German journalists in early 2005 showed that 33.8% considered Der Spiegel a leading publication; Süddeutsche Zeitung - 34.6%, Focus - 4.6%. In 1993, two-thirds of the journalists surveyed voted in favor of Der Spiegel.

Augstein remained a publisher until the end of his days (November 7, 2002 ), but until now the official publisher is referred to as Rudolf Augstein. Today, the editor-in-chief is Georg Mascolo .

The headquarters of the publishing house has been located in Hamburg since 1952, and on the Erikuschpitze street ^[1] since 2011, and also issues Manager-Magazin along with the main publication. Augstein in his will indicated that his heirs - a minority with 25% ^[2] shares - do not have a casting vote on the Board of Shareholders. 50.5% of the shares of the publishing holding Rudolf Augstein GmbH belong to a limited partnership of workers. The remaining 24.5% is owned by the Hamburg media concern Gruner und Jahr, a subsidiary of Bertelsmann AG.

• 1960s - late 1980s - Johannes C. Engel
• 1962 - 1968 - Klaus Jacobi
• 1969 - January 1973 - Gunter Gaus
• 1973 - December 31, 1989 - Erich Boehme (with Engel and Funk)
• 1986/87 - July 10, 1991 - Werner Funk (first with Boehme, then with Kiltz)
• beginning 1990 - December 13, 1994 - Hans Werner Kilz (first with Funk, then with Kaden)
• mid July 1991 - August 1, 1994 - Wolfgang Kaden (with Kiltz)
• from December 16, 1994 to 2008 - Stefan Aust
• 2008 - 2011 - Matthias Muller von Blumenkron and Georg Mascolo
• 2011 - 2013 - Georg Mascolo
• 2013 - 2015 - Wolfgang Buchner
• from 2015 - Klaus Brinkboymer ^[3]

Spiegel online was founded in 1994 . It is owned jointly with Manager Magazin Online by SPIEGELnet AG, which is owned 100% by the publisher . The materials are written by our own editorial team, some came here from news agencies. Since 2000, Spiegel Online has adhered to a strict saving policy. Authors are paid not according to the “Spiegel-tariff”, but according to their own “Spiegel-Online-tariff”. Since 2002, paid access to the archive of articles has been provided.

You can find online materials for free that will be printed in the next issue of Der Spiegel, with the exception of the main topic.

The chief editor is journalist Matthias Muller von Blumenkron.

• In the 1970s and 1980s , Norbert Kuhinka , the famous in Russia for filming the films The Autumn Marathon and Nastya , was a special correspondent of Der Spiegel in the USSR .
• In 2015-2018, Der Spiegel published 60 articles by one of its leading authors, Klaas Relotius , on American topics, but then it turned out that the author openly lied in articles about Trump and US politics - they say how terrible these Americans are, especially Trump voters. For his work, he was awarded the title “CNN Journalist of the Year”. When Klaas’s lies surfaced, he blamed the disease and editorial pressure that led him to lie about the immigration crisis and Trump America ^[4] .

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